It's nice to have the video and audio together with the text and to be
able to jump around at will, but there are some disadvantages to this
approach (which is now several years old). The dictionary isn't as
accessible as it might be since you need a special laser disk player
for it. Due to the limited storage of the laser disk, it only contains
about 200 words. That makes it pretty useless as a dictionary for
looking up words you don't know. It's more of a teaching tool than
a dictionary in the usual sense.
The organization responsible for this project is the Yinka Dene Language
Institute, which is operated by the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council,
School District 56, and the College of New Caledonia. YDLI trains
native language teachers, prepares teaching materials for native
languages and cultures, and serves as an archive and research centre.
In addition to the laser disk and course guides, YDLI has available
bilingual classroom dictionaries for primary school use, videotapes
of elders explaining traditional culture (some in native languages, some
in English), and some nice bilingual children's books, one of them
with an accompanying audio cassette (one side in Carrier, the other
in English). YDLI's address is:
Yinka Dene Language Institute
Hospital Road
Vanderhoof, B.C.
V0J 3A0 Canada
Bill Poser